1.

age of earth and us all chattering

a sentence   or character
suddenly

steps out to seek for truth   fails 
falls

into a stream of ink   Sequence 
trails off

must go on

waving fables and faces   War 
doings of the war

manoeuvering between points 
between

any two points     which is 
what we want   (issues at stake)

bearings and so

holes in a cloud   are minutes passing 
which is

which
view   odds of images swept rag-tag

silver and grey
epitomes

seconds   forgeries engender 
(are blue)   or blacker

flocks of words flying together   tense 
as an order

cast off to crows

From The Europe of Trusts by Susan Howe. Copyright © 1990 by Susan Howe. Reprinted by permission of New Directions. All rights reserved.